


Why Do People Disappear?

by chexxrain



Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: Abusive Father, Alternate Universe - College/University, Japan, M/M, Slow Burn, Suicide mention, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 10:27:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14282925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chexxrain/pseuds/chexxrain
Summary: Jaewon is the son of the founder and owner of Jung Technology, a company which spies on citizens in South Korea, China and Thailand, and sells information to the highest bidder. After years of covering murders which can be traced back to the company, whilst simultaneously being constantly watched by his father, Jaewon has made the decision to disappear from this life.Hanbin is a transfer student in Osaka, Japan, who lived a generally normal life. When he witnesses the suicide of a man, Hanbin begins to question how safe he really is.When these two meet, Hanbin is incredibly curious of the man who constantly wears a hoodie and denies being Korean and Jaewon is simply annoyed that Hanbin refuses to leave him alone.





	1. Empty Apartments

Jaewon couldn't remember exactly when he made the decision to disappear. The entire idea of it had been insane when he first thought about it. When a person went missing, it was usually not by their free will. Or was it? It was hard to tell, especially when that person was never found. When he finally made his mind up, Jaewon thought about the details for months, as this was not as simple as leaving the country and never returning. He had a job, taxes to pay, and people who would definitely notice his absence - his nosy neighbour, for one. 

The decision was a bitter sweet one, of course. He constantly thought about all he would be giving up in this life. As Jaewon paced in his apartment, he glanced at his Jindo dog, Nabi. Without a doubt, Jaewon loved that dog more than any human being he knows. But he knew that Nabi couldn't go with him. Jaewon also tried to think about other things he would miss in his present life, but couldn't. Maybe the disappearance wouldn't be as bitter sweet as he thought. 

Sighing deeply, Jaewon opened his fridge and grabbed a bottle of Soju. He opened it and took a sip, not bothering to grab a shot glass. The bitter taste contrasted with the sweet taste which lingered in his mouth from a tangerine he ate only a few minutes ago. He cringed at the burning sensation of the alcohol flowing down his throat, and into his empty stomach. He never liked alcohol, but he still drank it as he liked who he was when drunk, better than his sober personality. 

Jaewon glanced around the kitchen. It wasn't too big, but still showed features of the kitchen of a rich person. Jaewon took another sip of his drink and cringed once more, not at the bitterness, but the discontent he felt towards his surroundings. He paid his own rent, but didn't feel like he was provided a place to live, only a place to simply exist. 

He took another sip. 

As he leaned on his marble counter, he thought about how this feeling of discontent also followed him when he left the apartment. It shadowed him as he walked down the streets of Incheon and into his office, where he was a manager at a major tech company. He was good at his job, very good actually. But it didn't matter to him; he wasn't good by his own free will. He hated working there, hated the cautious looks he got from his subordinates, he hated the stacks of paper work he went through every day, he even hated the sounds of his footsteps as he walked down the eerily quiet halls. 

He took another sip. 

That's all his life was. Waking up in an apartment he hated, and going to a job he hated. Besides that, he was in a constant state of paranoia. Being the manager of a tech company was a peculiar job. It may be that way for managers in all companies, he supposed. He was aware of every little dirty secret that company was hiding, since the day that building was a sketch on an architect's drawing board. However, he had no actual power to act on those secrets. Not yet, at least. But that was his problem; he did not want to have the power to act on those secrets. He didn't even want to know what those secrets were. 

The bottle was empty and Jaewon sighed. He coursed a hand through his hair and opened the fridge door to reach for another bottle. Then, the harsh sound of his cellphone's ringing filled the silence. Jaewon left the kitchen door open as he walked into the living room to answer it. As he looked at the caller ID, he clenched his teeth and accepted the call.

"Hello," He said in a steady voice. 

"It would be wise not to drink another bottle of Soju, you have work to do."


	2. Drinks and Light Conversation

"Um, maybe you shouldn't drink another bottle, you have homework to do." 

Hanbin glanced at his friend and smirked, "Live a little, Donghyuk." And he opened another bottle of Soju.

Donghyuk eyed him wearily and whispered under his breath, "He's so gonna fail this course."

Hanbin gasped and threw a french fry at Donghyuk, "I heard that!"

" Stop wasting good food!" Bobby watched the fallen fry on the ground and said in a weak voice, "I could have eaten that."

Donghyuk and Hanbin laughed. It was a fairly warm evening in Osaka. Spring was finally upon them, and whilst the nights were still a bit chilly, the alcohol and pleasant company never failed to warm Hanbin's heart. When he first moved to Osaka to attend university, he was extremely nervous. After all, he did make an impulsive decision to go to school in a country he has hardly been to before. He couldn't even speak Japanese! But luckily, he wasn't the only Korean in the exchange program, as Bobby, Donghyuk, and a few others were also exchange students. Hanbin has always been some sort of an outcast in his home town, and never had a lot of friends. He couldn't believe he had to move to another country to finally meet some people he loved hanging out with, but who was he to complain? 

"What's with that weird look on your face?" Donghyuk asked Hanbin. 

"He always looks like that whenever he's had one too many bottles of Soju," Bobby explained, "He's going to tell us how lucky he is to have us as friends in ten minutes."

Hanbin grabbed the basket of fries and held it over the edge of the table and Bobby squeaked, "I'll do it," Hanbin said in a serious voice. 

"Don't! I apologize!" Bobby practically screamed. 

Hanbin rested the basket back on the table and Bobby pulled it to him, taking a handful. The other two parties at the table silently watched as he devoured the rest of the fries. Bobby paused after three handfuls, "What? You guys were wasting them!" Donghyuk rolled his eyes and Hanbin simply shrugged. He didn't want more anyway. 

After Bobby ate the rest of the fries, they all walked back to campus in a comfortable silence. Hanbin, in his slightly tipsy state, only stumbled on his feet a few times, but his friends were walking on either side of him, so he was sure that he won't fall. As they passed under a cherry blossom tree, a gentle breeze blew and a couple flowers fell from the tree. Hanbin stretched his hand out to catch one, and he would have, if it wasn't for a sudden scream which made him retract his hand and spin around. 

He could see people running to the street where the bridge was. Hanbin glanced at his friends, confused, "What's going on?" He asked. 

"I'm about to find out," Bobby said and ran in the same direction of the crowd which was forming, with Donghyuk behind him. Hanbin stood still for a couple of seconds, not too keen on running, but he followed, anyway. As they got closer to the crowd at the bridge, a figure of a man could be seen on the other side of the railway of the bridge. Hanbin stopped running, as the warmth he felt earlier turned cold. This man was about to jump off the bridge. 

Shouts could be heard from the crowd.

"Don't jump!"

"You have so much to live for!" 

"Has anyone called the police?" 

"Someone grab him!" 

Bobby and Donghyuk stood a couple of steps in front of Hanbin, and he walked up to them, grabbing their arms. He opened his mouth to tell them that they should leave, but before a sound could come out, the man turned back to the crowd and yelled, "No one is safe!" And jumped off the bridge. 

A scream erupted from Hanbin's throat, but he didn't hear it as it blended into the other screams from the rest of the crowds. Despite the screams, Hanbin was sure that he heard the splash from the river. He also heard sirens in the distance. Next to him, Bobby said something, but Hanbin didn't understand what it was, nor did he care enough to try to understand. He just watched someone kill themselves. He was definitely sober now.


	3. Jung Technology

"It would be wise not to drink another bottle of Soju, you have work to do."

Jaewon glanced around his apartment, not surprised that he was being watched, but still feeling terrified at the idea. He wanted to scream, he wanted to look for the cameras and destroy them, he wanted to start a riot, but in order for his plan to work, he needed to act as he normally would. 

He sighed deeply and replied, "What can I do for you, father?" 

"We had a little situation tonight, some idiot in Osaka delayed our operation. What I need you to do is cover it up completely so it doesn't look bad to our local investors. Say he had a mental illness, or recently got divorced - I don't care. Just do something about it immediately, and report back to me once you're done!" 

"Yes, father. Is there anything else?" 

"No." And with that, his father hung up the phone. 

Jaewon's chest felt tight as he was given a new task for his 'night job', as his father called it when he first approached Jaewon with a case. Jaewon's night job wasn't much different from his day job, if he was being honest. His overall role within the company was to constantly make it appealing to local investors. Recently, however, his father has had a desire to expand his business. The business already had some investors in China and Thailand, but Japan was a harder shell to crack. For years they have been trying to set up a base in Japan, and for years they have been shut down. 

Jaewon knew that his father's goal was to spread his business all throughout Asia. And maybe if that business was just simply about making handheld devices and security cameras for the public, then Jaewon would be able to sleep at night. But life is never that simple. At least, not for him it's not. What was really happening behind closed doors was that the electronic devises created by his father's company was used to track and spy on every individual who possessed one, which was everyone nowadays. His father would then sell information about selected individuals to anyone who could pay for that information. Usually, Jaewon knew that those individuals eventually went missing. This was, after all, a part of his night job. To destroy any evidence that the company was involved with the disappearance of thousands of people. 

Jaewon was temporarily given this job, as his father intended to soon make him the principle of Jung Technology. That very thought made Jaewon sick to his core. He could never picture himself as the person responsible for all of these deaths. However, he was, in a way. He knew what was happening, and actively played a role in covering it up. He hated himself for it, but it was the only way he knew how to survive. His father had a bad temper and would definitely dispose of anyone who stood in his way. An example of this being Jaewon's uncle, who co-founded Jung Technology. Once his uncle, Woobin, found out what was really happening, he tried to report it to the police, but was murdered, and it was covered up to look like a car crash. 

There was also Jaewon's mother, who he isn't sure of what exactly happened to her. When he went to school in the morning at the age of nine, she was the one who sent him off with a full lunch kit and a kiss on the cheek. But when he returned, he was told by his father that his mother had gone, and was not returning. That was the last time Jaewon's father had ever spoken about his mother. After her sudden disappearance, Jaewon was taken out of public school and was home schooled. At his home school, his teacher stressed on the subjects of mathematics, physics and IT. Jaewon became a genius in those subjects, and went on to pursue his current position as manager for Jung Technology. 

Knowing he was being watched, Jaewon quickly got to work on his new project of covering up the suicide. He received an email with all the information he needed to know, as usual, with a video of the event. He didn't want to watch it, but he knew that in order to accurately do his job, he needed to. Reluctantly, Jaewon clicked on the video. The first thing he noticed is how loud it was. The screams of the crowd echoed throughout the apartment. The crowd screamed for what seemed like forever, until the man turned and shouted, "No one is safe!" And jumped. The person who was filming let out a sob and ended the video. 

Jaewon stared at the computer screen, even though the video was over. He was willing himself not to cry as he rubbed his temples and exhaled loudly. He closed his eyes for a second, reminding himself that he was being monitored, and proceeded to do his job.


	4. Morning Classes

It has been a week since they saw the man, Akito Takahashi, jump off the bridge, and Hanbin hasn't been able to get his mind off of it. After news had spread that he was mentally ill, most people simply moved on with their lives. Hanbin, however, couldn't shake the haunting feeling he had every time he thought about the man's last words. 

No one is safe.

Hanbin shook his head. Maybe he was over-thinking. He tried to focus on his present surroundings, rather than being hooked up on the past. Currently, he was in his Sociology lecture. He glanced to his friend, Yunhyeong, another exchange student, who was vigorously taking down notes. Hanbin looked down at his notebook, which had one line that read, 'Bobby was here'. Sheepishly, he looked at Yunhyeong again, who hasn't even spared Hanbin a glance. 

"Psst," He whispered. 

Yunhyeong kept taking notes. 

"Psst!" Hanbin tried again. "Yunhyeong, hyung!" 

Yunhyeong was definitely ignoring him. 

"Hyung, psst!" 

"What?" Yunhyeong slammed his pen down and glared at him. 

"Can I see your notes?"

"After class."

"But-"

"Hanbin, Yunhyeong, something to share?" The lecturer asked them. 

Hanbin bit his lip in embarrassment, "No, sorry." He replied in Japanese. 

"Please keep the talking to a minimum then, right?" 

Hanbin nodded and glanced at Yunhyeong, who went back to blatantly ignoring him and taking notes. Sighing, Hanbin decided to try to take at least a little notes in class. 

 

As he entered his dorm room, Hanbin took a deep breath, feeling relieved to see the small space which has become his for the past three years. He was the only exchange student who got his own dorm, and he couldn't be happier. The room was as clean as Hanbin could make it, which really wasn't that clean. Stacks of books and papers were in a semi-neat pile on his desk, his bed was messily made, and lines of shoes occupied the space under the bed with a couple of empty water bottles on the floor. The only things which decorated the walls were posters and quotes from his favourite underground rappers. His room was darkly lit as his curtains blocked out most sunlight, which he liked. Hanbin carelessly flung his bag in the only empty corner in the room and jumped on his bed. He then pulled out his phone, which had a scratched screen since his first week in Japan that he never got a chance to fix, and he played his favourite playlist. This particular playlist had many slow tempo songs, which helped him to relax after a long day. 

Even though Hanbin didn't physically do much, he felt like he ran a marathon in his mind. He has been burdened with constant thoughts of the event from a week ago. Hanbin sighed as the soft melodies of the first song filled the silence in the room. He had lived a mostly covered life, the most scandalous thing he had ever seen before that was a drunk man stripping to his underwear and soon passing out, back in Korea. Up until he watched a man jump off a bridge to his death. Bobby and Donghyuk didn't seem as affected as he was, and that also bothered him. They didn't seem to have any problem accepting the fact that he was mentally unstable and moving on with their lives. 

"Ah, this is going to drive me crazy," Hanbin said, rolling over in his twin sized bed. He knew he had homework to do, but because he barely paid attention in class all day, he had absolutely no idea what the homework actually was. Hanbin closed his eyes, he would figure it out when he woke up. 

Hanbin awoke the next morning, having slept through the entire night. His phone was dead, he needed to shower and eat, he hadn't done his homework, and he had a class in forty-five minutes. Jumping out of his bed in alarm, Hanbin plugged his phone in and grabbed his shower items and quickly ran to one of the bathrooms on his floor. He shared this particular one with four other guys. When he got to the bathroom door, he realized that he left the bathroom keys at his room, and he quickly ran back to grab them. 

After the quickest shower he has ever had, Hanbin opened his small closet and groaned. The only clean outfit which hung on the rack was a dark blue button down shirt which he only reserved for special occasions. All of his other clothes laid in a dirty heap on the floor of the closet. Hanbin knew what this called for. Grabbing a shirt and jeans from the pile which smelt the cleanest and a half empty bottle of Fabreze, he sprayed the clothes and proceeded to put them on. This was definitely not his first time doing it, and he knew it wouldn't be his last. Hanbin often ignored his chores such as cleaning and doing laundry until it was absolutely necessary. And it seemed that it was time to do the laundry. Hanbin was thankful that he at least had one clean underwear. 

As he walked to his class with roughly fifteen minutes to spare, Hanbin noticed Bobby walking a couple paces in front of him with his earbuds in and his backpack gripped on one side of his shoulder. Hanbin did a small jog to catch up with his friend and deliberately bumped into him. Bobby took off one side of his earbuds, "Can I help you?" He asked in a some what irritated voice. 

Hanbin chuckled, "Sorry, I forgot that you weren't a morning person."

"Who likes getting up this early?" Bobby replied. 

"Me. Why are you up any way? You don't take morning classes."

"Remember when I told you about this mid-term project where I have to compose my own song that is worth twenty percent of my grade?" Hanbin nodded. "Well I'm really struggling and the only free time the professor has is between eight and nine this morning."

Hanbin hummed, "Welcome to the land of the morning people. Our kink is taking classes at eight in the morning."

"Yeah? Well I'm kink shaming you guys." Bobby replied bitterly. 

Hanbin laughed. "You'll survive." He saw the Humanities building come into view. "There's my destination, I wish you all the best my friend." He patted Bobby on the shoulder, to which he simply grunted. Hanbin then walked into the building which practically became his second home in Japan. Most of his classes were in that building, besides the photography class he took on impulse, which was in the Performing and Contemporary Arts Building. 

Hanbin walked into his first class of the morning, which was his Personality Psychology course. His goal was to become a psychologist, Hanbin supposed. He was never too enthusiastic about any career path, really. But his parents didn't exactly gave him much of a decision on whether or not he was going to college, and he always did pretty well in high school, so he just went along with it. His real passion in life had never struck him, but he decided that if he had to be anything, it would be a psychologist. He was always so observant of others, and curious of the reasons behind their actions. Maybe that was why he was so worked up over the suicide. 

With ten more minutes to spare, Hanbin sat in his regular seat in the front of the class. It was a relatively small class of only thirty people, as there actually wasn't a lot of students wanting to take such an early class. It was a blessing and a curse, really. The small number of people made the class a lot more intimate and informative, however, on days such as this where Hanbin hadn't done the required reading they usually get for homework, he was fucked. 

"Morning," Yuta greeted him. 

"Morning," Hanbin smiled as he sat next to him. Yuta was actually the person who helped Hanbin the most in learning Japanese and just generally living there. When they first met, Hanbin was totally terrified of Yuta, as he had this incredibly intimidating aurora. Well, Yuta is still intimidating at times. He was incredibly good looking, but also incredibly jaded. That mixture of visuals with a dark personality had a lot of people tip-toeing around him. But after a few classes of sitting next to him, Hanbin soon realized that he wasn't that bad at all, and soon relied on Yuta to teach him Japanese. 

They both sat in comfortable silence until Professor Sato entered the class, and eyed the class skeptically before smiling crookedly. "Sorry, I could never get accustomed to how small this class is. Morning everyone! Let's get started."

It was halfway through the class, and Hanbin was barely getting by. So far he answered all of the questions he was asked wrongly, and strongly depended on Yuta to save him in each instance. During ten minutes of silence where they were meant to be doing an exercise, but Hanbin used it for skimming the chapter he was supposed to read last night, a student decided to ask the professor a question. "Excuse me, sir. But I had been wondering, what are your views on the suicide which happened on the bridge last week?" She asked. 

Hanbin stopped his skimming and looked at Professor Sato, who gave the student a half smile, "I was waiting for someone to ask me that question." He took his glasses off and rested his elbows on his desk. "Durkheim conducted an extensive research on suicide where he concluded that people commit this act due to social, rather than individual factors. Whilst I have always leaned more on the Interpretivist approach when it comes to the topic of suicide, it really depends on each individual. Take Takahashi's last words, for instance. 'No one is safe'. Vague, but it doesn't entirely suggest that he jumped off that bridge due to mental illness, which is an individual factor. What are we not safe from?" He put his glasses on again, "That is the real question."


	5. Broken Fingers

Jaewon always liked driving, it was always therapeutic to him, in a way. In his car, he was safe from that feeling of being constantly watched. Even though he was being tracked, it was still a better feeling than knowing someone was watching you. Driving also gave him a feeling of total control; when he had his hands on the steering wheel, he was in charge of his life, which was usually not the case.

As he drove into the parking lot of the Jung Technology building, Jaewon noticed three black jeeps and his heart rate instantly sped up. Those jeeps were so black that they almost looked blue to him. When Jaewon was younger, he always asked his father whether or not his jeeps were black or blue. His father always told him that he must be stupid to believe that the jeeps were blue. Now at the age of twenty seven, Jaewon is sure that he has never seen a darker colour than what is on the jeeps, be it black or blue. 

Parking in his usual spot, Jaewon stayed seated in the car for a couple minutes, staring at his hands on the wheel. His finger nails were almost none existent, due to his habit of biting them. Sighing deeply, he buried his head into his hands. Jaewon would rather a hole swallow him than to deal with his father, but things didn't work like that. Grabbing his briefcase, Jaewon exited his car and walked into the building. People greeted him as he walked to the elevator, but all Jaewon managed to do was nod. The elevator ride to the top floor always took two minutes; Jaewon counted the seconds as the elevator ascended. When the elevator came to a halt, Jaewon took a deep breath and walked out confidently. He had learned to feign confidence after the first time his father embarrassed him at a cocktail party for being too timid. He was fourteen then, but he had learned quick. 

Jaewon politely greeted his secretary and ignored the two guards dressed in a suit standing on either side of his door. "Come for your monthly visit?" He asked his father as he walked in. Jung Jaehyun looked fairly young, despite approaching his sixties. His hair was obviously dyed black, and he wore his usual suit. Jaehyun was sitting at Jaewon's desk, his stony face expressionless as his dark eyes regarded his son. Jaewon met his father's cold gaze with one of his own as he set his briefcase down. 

"Jaewon," His father greeted him. "It has been a while since we conversed face to face."

"Yes," Jaewon said as he adjusted his cuff lets, refusing to sit in the seat facing his father. This was, after all, his office. 

"I came to see how you were running things here. I must say, I'm not disappointed. If you keep things up, you will become the CEO soon."

Jaewon pursed his lips, skeptical of his father's complement. "Thank you," He said, anyway. 

"However," Jaehyun got up from the office chair and walked toward his son. He gave Jaewon a once over before grabbing the collar of his dress shirt and pulling his son so that they were looking at each other in the eyes. "I lost two major stakeholders due to that Osaka incident," He said in a low voice. Jaewon felt fear crawling up his neck as his father's grip on his shirt got significantly tighter. "I don't understand. You usually do a good job, but you seemed to have slipped up on this one. And I lost stakeholders because people are linking Jung Technology to that incident. In the last week I lost fifteen million dollars because you couldn't do your fucking job correctly. You costed me fifteen million dollars."

"I-I'm sorry," Jaewon stuttered. 

"Your apology means nothing to me," His father snarled. "You are inconsistent, Jaewon. And you know how I feel about people who are inconsistent." Jaehyun grabbed Jaewon's left hand and pulled his smallest finger back until there was a definite snapping noise. Jaewon let out a pained moan but bit his lip hard so that no other noise would escape. His father hated it when he cried. Stepping away from him, Jaehyun looked at his son with harsh eyes, "You have twenty four hours to fix your mistake. Otherwise, it would be your entire arm that's broken." 

His father then exited the office. Jaewon cradled his broken finger as he clenched his teeth together, endorsing the pain. He breathed heavily as he tried to remind himself that he has gotten worse punishments, but it was not the broken finger which pained him the most. It was the feeling of helplessness. The thought that his father could walk into his office, break his finger and leave without having to deal with any repercussions. It was the thought that his father is responsible for the disappearance and murder of hundreds, maybe thousands of people, and he is still walking free. 

Jaewon growled as he walked to his desk and sat down. He was angry. He was angry at his father, but mostly at himself. He was angry that he was a coward who was too afraid to stand up for himself. He just lived in a routine where every second of his life was planned for him, which he was expected to blindly follow. He desperately wanted to break away from this torture and do something. 

His broken finger was throbbing and he knew he should go to an emergency room, but he sat still, as if he were a statue. It was times like this when he felt like he was up against the world. He was overwhelmed and just tired. 

A knock came from his office door and the secretary hesitantly stepped in. She eyed Jaewon worriedly, knowing the nature of his father. "I have your daily schedule."

Jaewon shook his head. "Clear it, I have other matters to attend to."

~~~

Jaewon had opted for simply wrapping a bandage around his finger, as he had no time to properly mend it. Sitting at his office desk, he browsed through all of the emails he sent to Korean clients, ensuring them that matters were being taken care of. He also made calls to the two ex-stakeholders, trying to persuade them to reconsider leaving Jung Technologies. Once making themselves clear that they were completely positive of their departures, Jaewon decided not to push further. Even though they were well-respected stakeholders who were often generous in their payments, they were replaceable. Jaewon then made a list of potential stakeholders and got to work on contacting them. 

It took many hours of business promoting and ass-kissing, but he eventually got, not just two, but three new stakeholders. When he was done, it was well past midnight, and the city felt silent. This was usually his favourite time of the day, as everything was asleep and quiet. However, his finger got to the point where the pain was barely noticeable and Jaewon wasn't sure if that was a good thing, or not. Cleaning up his desk, Jaewon reflected over the last twenty four hours and felt his stomach sink. He was not happy. Not at all. 

He needed to stop being a pawn to his father's schemes. He needed to do something about it. And in the position he was in now, nothing could be done. Jaewon decided that his planning should come to and end, and he should start executing it. Shrugging his jacket on, Jaewon now knew what he needed to do. But first, he should really visit the hospital.


	6. Nothing Much Happens on a Tuesday

Jaewon sat in his office, mindlessly scrolling through paper work. It was lunchtime, but he wasn't hungry, he hadn't really been hungry for a while now. Sighing, he ran a hand through his short hair and leaned back in his chair. He was extremely anxious, currently. He has been waiting for a certain phone call for days now. The waiting has been slowly driving him crazy. Jaewon slid his hand from his hair to his pant pocket, where the burner phone rested. He had been plotting to disappear for months now, going through each detail of his plan. Of course, he had to work secretly, as he was constantly being watched by his father, and this resulted in the plan stretching out way longer than he would have liked. However, he found a way around this. 

Jaewon had recently came into contact with his old teacher who home schooled him. In order to be rid of his father, he knew he couldn't work on his own. But the problem was, finding someone who he trusted who was also smart enough to work around his father had been an issue. A huge one. His father was a highly influential man in South Korea, and even his enemies were weary of going against him. Jaewon almost gave up, but then he remembered his teacher, Mr Ahn, who had been like the father he never had while he was a teenager. When Jaewon had went off to college, he still contacted Mr Ahn from time to time. It wasn't uncommon for them to talk on the phone, and Jaewon's father never mentioned anything about it, so he believed that there wasn't a problem with it. He didn't want to drag Mr Ahn into this, but Jaewon was desperate. He had managed to buy a couple burner phones and called his teacher to explain his plan. 

Mr Ahn wasn't surprised, to say the least. He told Jaewon that he expected, and actually hoped that he would try to get out of his father's grasp. He agreed to help Jaewon and told him that he would contact him once he had gotten a burner phone. That was two weeks ago. Jaewon had since bitten his nails until they were no more. He had anxiety for many reasons; He feared that Mr Ahn had been found out by his father and was possibly dead, he feared that maybe Mr Ahn told his father of his plan and the fact that time was passing also added to the problem. 

Shaking his head, Jaewon decided that maybe he should eat, just to get his mind off of this. That was when he received a text on his burner phone, I will call you in ten minutes. Jaewon was quick to act. He grabbed his coat and walked as fast as he could out of his office and through the hallways, without trying to seem suspicious. He got in the elevator and pressed the lobby floor, even smiling at the others who entered on the way down. When he got to the lobby floor, Jaewon continued his fast walk to the exit and out the door. On the street, he thankfully blended in with the mid-day rush crowd, and when he was sure that the street cameras could not decipher him from anyone else, he simply slipped into an ally, crowded with boxes and old furniture. Jaewon smiled, perfect. 

The burner phone rang seconds later. "Hello?" He immediately answered. 

"Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, Jaewon." The deep voice of Mr Ahn whispered through the phone. 

"It's no problem. I'm just glad to hear that you're safe."

"You were worried about my safety?" Mr Ahn chuckled, "Maybe I should have messaged you so you would know that I'm fine. But whatever, I have something important to tell you. I got a hold of some of my contacts in Osaka, and they were more than willing to accommodate you."

"That's great," Jaewon breathed out, "But how am I leaving?"

 

~ one month later~

Sighing deeply and putting his phone in his pocket, Jaewon stepped out of his apartment complex. It was ten o' clock on a Tuesday night. Nothing much usually happens on a Tuesday, accept for maybe a minor car accident. Or in this case, a kidnapping. To say he was nervous was a massive understatement. Jaewon has lived a life of strict rules, which he always followed, terrified of what would happen if he didn't. He had many different scenarios in his head of how this night might turn out, all of which led to him biting his nails down to the bud. It was quite difficult to set things up with Mr Ahn, as he was constantly under the watchful eye of whoever was in charge of staring at Jaewon through a monitor that day.

For the entire month, Jaewon has been nothing less of a perfect son in his father's eyes. He has done all of the tasks given to him and in return received many blessings from Jaehyun. All the while, he and Mr Ahn have been communicating through burner phones and even 'accidentally' bounced into each other at a cafe. It was all very stressful, and will probably continue to be stressful until the very end. But Jaewon knew that it was worth it, not only for him, but for all the people whose privacy was being breached. 

As he walked down the mostly empty street, Jaewon tried not to freak out too much. If everything didn't go perfectly, then he would be fucked. He was meant to go to the grocery two blocks away from his house and buy some inconspicuous items such as milk, bread, eggs and other things. When he left the grocery, men were supposed to jump out of one of the allies and pretend to chloroform him. 

His visit to the grocery didn't feel real to Jaewon, and he tried his best to look natural. When he left the grocery, his bags in his hands, his breathing sped up with anticipation. He wasn't told which ally the men were coming from, the keep some element of surprise on his part. He only made it to the first ally when three dark figures wearing ski masks emerged and immediately tackled him. In shock, Jaewon dropped the bags and tried to throw a few punches, but in comparison to the broad frames of those men to Jaewon's skinny body, he was easily outmaneuvered. A cloth which spelt like nothing, in particular, was pressed against his nose and Jaewon pretended to struggle for a few moments before going limp. 

As he allowed the men to carry him, Jaewon heard a shout come from the streets and the men quickly ran to a black car parked on the inside of the ally. He was roughly pushed into the backseat and two of the men climbed in with him, while the other one got in the front seat. The driver wasted no time in taking off. Jaewon tried to sit upright, when one of the men in the backseat slapped his thigh.

"Ouch!" Jaewon said, "Why did you do that?"

"You can't sit up!" The man replied, "You're meant to be unconscious, what if a street camera spots you?"

He was right, Jaewon supposed. "Where is Mr Ahn?" He asked. 

"He's going to meet us in Busan," The one in the front seat said. "Chan, did you get right of his phone?" 

"Yup," The one next to the window in the back replied, "Made sure to smash it good."

Jaewon nodded. "So are we driving all the way to Busan?"

"Would you rather walk?" The one in the front seat snorted. 

"Well, it's kind of a long car ride, and I have absolutely no idea how long it will take for either the police, or my father, to track us."

"Don't worry about it," The one next to Jaewon said, "We're professionals." 

Conversation died down, and the car ride was silent for forty minutes, before the car suddenly stopped. Jaewon's heart began to race before the one by the window, Chan, said "Okay I can see the next car. Follow me." He opened to door and the man next to Jaewon quickly grabbed him around the waist and got out the car. Jaewon once again pretended to be unconscious and allowed the man to fling him over his shoulder. He only caught a glimpse of his surroundings, which was so dark he believed they were not on a major road. The running came to a stop and Jaewon only heard the guy who was carrying him mutter a 'sorry' before he was shoved in a trunk. Before he could say anything, the door was closed and seconds later the car began to move. Upon finding that there was at least a pillow in the trunk, Jaewon positioned it under his head and decided that he might as well take a nap.

 

He was awakened when the trunk opened. "Hey, get out!" A voice hassled him. Jaewon felt groggy and was unsure of what was happening, but a hand shot out and started to pull him out of the trunk. Jaewon quickly gathered his senses and landed on the floor. 

"We need to move quick! Your father's men aren't too far behind!" The man then grabbed Jaewon's wrist and began to run at top speed. Jaewon did his best to catch up as he tried to figure out where the hell they was. The sky was still dark, but Jaewon could identify that they were running between cargo boxes, and he could hear the sound of the ocean in the distance. Where they at Busan already?

When they finally got out from between the boxes, Jaewon saw many large cargo ships at the docks. His heart leaped, he was almost there. At this point the man let go of his wrist, and they both sprinted at top speed towards the docks. No one batted an eyelash in their direction as they both stepped onto the second to last ship. The man sped to a stop and glanced back, Jaewon then noticed that he was still wearing his mask. He grabbed Jaewon's wrist again and led him deeper into the ship where they walked down some steps and eventually made it into a grand room, which only had a group of men in a semi-circle conversing. 

As he looked, Jaewon identified one of the men and he felt almost lightheaded with joy. "Well, look who it is." Mr Ahn smiled at him.


	7. Chamomile Tea

Hanbin closed the psychology textbook, officially giving up. He firmly placed his hands on his temples as he tried to force his brain to actually process what he was reading, but it was to no avail. Hanbin exhaled loudly and eyed Donghyuk, who was sitting on the beanbag chair with a lollipop in his mouth, revising notes for his physics exam. Hanbin wondered how he was so collected after the incident on the bridge, even Bobby didn't seem phased. It made him feel weird. 

"Donghyuk," He said. 

Donghyuk hummed without looking up.

"Don't you think about what happened on the bridge?"

Donghyuk glanced at Hanbin through his lashes before sighing and resting his notes down. "Honestly, I don't. Do you?"

Hanbin could tell that Donghyuk already knew the answer, judging from his body language and the stare he was currently giving him. Hanbin averted his eyes and fiddled with the edges of his textbook, "It's just kind of been in the back of my mind since it happened."

"Hanbin, I'm not saying what we saw wasn't awful," Donghyuk said, "Because it was, it was tragic. But at the end of the day, we didn't know that man. Strangers die everyday for a bunch of different reasons, we just happened to see this one."

Hanbin bit his lip, not exactly sure how to reply to that.

"I know it's a bit harsh, but that's the reality of the situation. Don't let it stop you from living your life." Donghyuk picked up his notes again, and Hanbin took that as a sign that the conversation was over. He picked up his psychology book and opened it once more to the beginning of the chapter, he needed to move on. 

 

Walking out of his Personality Psychology test, which went badly, Hanbin was entirely pissed off. Both at himself for not preparing adequately in order for him to pass the test, and at his classmates who were completely satisfied with how 'extremely easy' the exam was. Sure, it was his fault he was in that situation, but he still didn't love hearing about how well everyone thought they did. 

"Wow, you really are out of it."

Hanbin almost screamed from the sound of someone speaking in his left ear. Turning around, he saw Bobby watching him with tired eyes. As it was finals week, Bobby looked like he had survived a tornado, with his hair messy and shirt wrinkled. He also held a large stack of sheet music in his hands. Hanbin was about to make a remark on his appearance, but he imagined that he probably looked similar. 

"What do you mean?" He replied. 

"Well I was waiting for you outside of the building, in plain sight, might I add, and you walked straight past me." 

"Oh."

"You wanna get some coffee? I'll pay." Bobby offered. 

"Lead the way," Hanbin and Bobby started to walk to the nearby coffee shop. They hadn't really seen much of each other since the bridge incident, as finals week was nearing. Not like Hanbin was studying, but he knew Bobby always resorted to a caveman, not leaving the studio in the music room. 

When they entered the shop, the strong aroma of freshly brewed coffee greeted Hanbin, and for a second it was as if he was in his grandparent's kitchen in the country side. Despite not drinking coffee himself, Hanbin always loved the smell. It made him feel at peace. Bobby went to order and Hanbin took a seat by the window, basking in the calmness that suddenly overtook him. When Bobby came back he plopped on the seat opposite Hanbin, "So I spoke to Donghyuk."

"Yeah? Did you confess?"

Bobby rolled his eyes, although Hanbin could see the tips of his ears turning red. "He told me that you can't stop thinking about what happened."

Hanbin hummed as the waitress came with their coffee. "Hey guys!" She greeted.

"Hi Sana, how are you?" Bobby gave her a tired smile. 

"I'm fine, probably doing better than you guys, isn't it finals week?" She glanced between them. 

Hanbin nodded, "It is."

"Well just hang in there, I'm sure you guys will do great!" She gave them one last bubbly smile before returning to the kitchen. Hanbin sipped his tea, slightly smiling at the fact that Bobby got him chamomile tea, his favourite. Bobby, on the other hand, was drinking an espresso. 

"I can't get it off my mind, too." Bobby suddenly said. "I don't think it's effecting me the same way it's effecting you, but my mind keeps running back to it." 

Hanbin stayed quiet, a million things running through his head, but he had no idea what to say. 

"I actually wrote a song about it," Bobby continued, "That sort of helped." There was another silent pause as Bobby fidgeted with his golden watch. It was too big for his wrist, but his father bought it for him when he was leaving home, so he always wore it. "Donghyuk can be a little harsh sometimes, you already know that, just don't take it to heart."

Hanbin stared at Bobby full on, silently urging him to get to the point. 

"Well, what I'm trying to say is, you should find something to help you cope with it. What we saw was really traumatic and it's hard having to go back to your normal life after seeing something like that, so maybe you should try to find something that would help you cope." Bobby gave Hanbin a concerned look and he averted his eyes to stare outside at the passing people. It was no secret that Hanbin lacked passion. Everyone had their thing which they loved doing that also comforted them when the time came. Hanbin just sort of always floated around, not really finding anything that grabbed his interest for long enough, but he still kept moving on because how could you not? He knew there was something out there for him, but he became so comfortable in his habits that he stopped searching. But having something that keeps him grounded is exactly what he needed now, as he has been recently feeling so out of touch with everything.

He glanced back at Bobby, who was still looking at him with those sad eyes. Hanbin forced a smile, "Thanks, I'll try. I just need some time to deal with everything. The stress of finals week didn't really help the situation at all." 

Bobby nodded, "We'll be fine."

Hanbin turned back to the window, "Yeah we will."

They spent almost an hour at the coffee shop, which was good time considering Bobby and Hanbin have a habit of idling, although they both had exams to prepare for, so they cut their time short with the promise of hanging out after their exams were finished. Hanbin walked back to his dorm room, not really feeling better or worse from the talk he had with Bobby. He knew that Bobby was concerned and only trying to help, and he appreciated it so much, but he was still hung up. Something just didn't feel right and Hanbin had no idea how to describe it. 

He opened his door and carelessly flung his bag on the floor. His room was a mess with papers and notebooks all over the floor, as well as his bed. He decided that he wasn't in the mood to tidy, so he simply threw what was on his bed onto the floor and collapsed onto his soft, if not rather dirty, bed. Hanbin pulled out his phone and he browsed through news from South Korea. Nothing stood out too much until his eyes lazily brushed past a headline that he had to scroll back to see.

_Jung Jaewon, son of Jung Jaehyun, the owner of Jung Techologies, is kidnapped. ___

_He was kidnapped between the hours of 10 P.M. and 11 P.M. on Tuesday, today is now Thursday and there was no sign of him besides the footage of him being taken away by three men in masks, wearing all black. A statement issued by his father was pleading for the safe return of his son, in return for any sum of money the kidnappers desired. ___

There was an I.D. photo of Jaewon attached to the article. Hanbin's eyebrows scrunched as he re-read the article. Jung Technologies was a very rich company in South Korea, who was the idiot that decided to kidnap the son of one of the most powerful men in Asia?

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	8. Sleepless Nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Firstly I would like to apologize for my lack of updates during the past month. I had exams and couldn't focus on writing. But now my exams have finished, which means that I'll be updating regularly! I would also like to thank everyone for all of the support the book has been getting. It really means a lot. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

A small ray of sunlight slipped from the tiny space between the curtain and the wall, which indicated to Jaewon that it was now daytime. This also meant that the entire night has passed without him getting a single blink of sleep. Standing from his hunched position on the uncomfortable make-shift bed, Jaewon wondered how long he was staring at his hands. His room was small and the sponge mattress smelled old, as well as the sheets, but there was air conditioning, so Jaewon supposed that he couldn't complain. He stood and walked to the window, pulling the heavy opaque curtains aside so he may see the streets of Osaka. Jaewon has been in Japan for two days, with his only companions being the men who kidnapped him Chanwoo and Junhoe, who both weren't so fond of him, at the moment. 

Shortly after boarding the boat in Busan, it was discovered that their third partner, Jinhwan, was captured by Jaewon's father. Chanwoo and Junhoe had taken the news of their friend's kidnapping quite well, although their attitude towards Jaewon did change. At first it didn't matter that much to Jaewon, as he and Mr Ahn conversed for the entirety of the ride. However, upon their arrival in Japan, Mr Ahn told Jaewon that Chanwoo and Junhoe were to live with him in Osaka, at least until the news of his kidnapping dies down. That's when the guilt started to consume Jaewon. He felt so awful that these men did so much for him, and in return he got one of them killed. He couldn't help the feeling of powerlessness which came soon after. The feeling wasn't unfamiliar, but unpleasant nonetheless. What further disappointed Jaewon was the fact that Mr Ahn couldn't stay with him. Of course, he should have expected that, seeing as Mr Ahn has an entire life outside of Jaewon's problems, but he still wanted to have something familiar in his new life. 

Jaewon pulled the curtain back in place so that his room would be engulfed in darkness once more. He didn't want to see the world outside continue to live, not when he was feeling like time has stopped for him. He wasn't allowed to leave the apartment, or have any electronic devices. Basically, all it had to entertain the three men in the tiny apartment was a radio and a television, and Jaewon was too afraid to face the others, so he spent most of his time in his room, trying to figure out what he should do with his life now. His thoughts often ran on his dog as well. He had made sure to send Nabi to a pet daycare center as he couldn't stand the thought of leaving the dog to face his father. But God, he missed his dog. 

A thump came from behind his bedroom door, snapping Jaewon out of his thoughts, "Wake up and get out here!" Yelled Junhoe from the other side. 

Jaewon tried to rub some of the sleep out of his eyes and swallowed down the anxiety that was rising in his throat. He walked through his room and opened the door, reviling the small living room where Chanwoo sat on the floor eating cereal as Junhoe sat on the one coach, with a bowl in his hands as well.

"Do you want some?" Junhoe glanced at Jaewon as he picked up the cereal from next to Chanwoo to throw in his bowl, which already had milk in it. 

Jaewon silently nodded as he went into the kitchen to pick up a plastic bowl of his own. Basically all they had been eating for the past two days were cereal and Ramen. Jaewon couldn't leave the apartment yet and someone had to stay with him at all times, so basically Junhoe was the one to buy groceries. Although, none of them currently had a large amount of money to spend, so Ramen and frosted flakes was basically all they had. Upon sitting on the floor, opposite to his kidnappers, Jaewon grabbed the box of frosted flakes and Chanwoo handed him the milk. Jaewon was aware of both of the men's eyes watching him as he poured his cereal into the bowl, and he tried not to feel too anxious about it.

"You look awful," Chanwoo said as he ate another spoonful of cereal. 

Jaewon had not looked at his reflection since he was kidnapped, but Chanwoo was probably right. "I didn't sleep last night," He croaked out in a scratchy voice. 

Junhoe let out a humorless chuckle, "Who sleeps anymore?" 

His rhetorical sentence hung in the air as all of them ate silently. The television was on, providing background noise as all of them lost themselves in their minds. Jaewon wondered what thoughts kept his kidnappers up at night. He knew that they were trained professionals, but professionals at what? Hit men? Agents? They both looked young, probably younger than him. Chanwoo had a youthful aura about him. It showed in the way he carried himself, and the wide-eyed looks he would shoot at Junhoe. Jaewon heard him calling Junhoe 'hyung' once, so he knew that Chanwoo was the younger of the two. However, there was something about Chanwoo that was also incredibly intimidating. He was quite calculating, always studying what was going on around him and hesitant in the way he moved, like he doesn't take a single step without analyzing the entire situation. 

Junhoe, on the other hand, was a lot more hasty than Chanwoo. He was all stern looks and harsh grips; the type of man to rush into a situation on a whim. Although, Jaewon saw that he was rather caring toward Chanwoo, like an older brother. He would often pat Chanwoo on his back and try to make Chanwoo smile. That is, before he catches Jaewon staring, then Junhoe returns to his cold facade. 

Overall Jaewon knew that his kidnappers were good, trustworthy people. After all, Mr Ahn did say that he would trust them with his life. Jaewon just felt awkward around them because he caused them the life of their friend. He had no idea how to approach them about it, either. He didn't know if he should apologize, or try to befriend them to make up for it, so he opted to ignore it -and them- for as long as he could. That method wasn't working out too well, though, as it only built a wall between him and his new roommates. Jaewon didn't know what to do, he had never really been around people his own age, leaving him quite clueless as to how to get them to like him, let alone trust him. 

Chanwoo switched the station from a Japanese drama to South Korean news, where a picture of Jaewon was on the screen. Chanwoo immediately raised the volume and they all listened intently. 

_Jung Jaewon, son Jung Jaehyun, the owner of Jung Technologies, was kidnapped on Tuesday. A nation wide search is currently being conducted for the twenty-eight year old. However, there has not been any luck. Upon trying to get an interview with Jung Jaehyun, he has said that he was too grief-stricken to speak, and he hopes that his son will return safely to him. If you have seen or know anything related to the kidnapping of Jung Jaewon, please contact the police, or Jung Jaewon at the number written on the screen below._

Jaewon clenched his lips together. Lies.

__

____The announcer switched to another story, but Jaewon couldn't bring himself to listen, or care. It was almost humorous how fake his father's statement was. What would have made it better was if Jaehyun actually did the interview, pretending that he gave a shit about Jaewon._ _ _ _

__

____"They're going to find a body," Chanwoo spoke up, staring directly at Jaewon._ _ _ _

__

____"A what?" Jaewon looked at Chanwoo, not understanding. How could they find a body?_ _ _ _

__

____"Before we kidnapped you, we threw a body into the ocean at the Busan ports where we left. They're going to find the body. Not now, but later, when it has decomposed enough to be unrecognizable, and the DNA untraceable," Chanwoo explained in a regular voice, as if they were simply talking about the weather._ _ _ _

__

____Jaewon licked his lips, glancing from Chanwoo to Junhoe,"You killed a man? You killed a man to cover up my kidnapping?" He said in a panicked voice._ _ _ _

__

____Junhoe shrugged as he stood up from his seat, an empty bowl in his hands,"You wanted to disappear and you got it. Jung Jaewon is now dead to the world."_ _ _ _

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____A week later the body was found. Jaewon had changed his place of moping from the bedroom to the living room, constantly watching the news and keeping up with the story of his kidnapping. There was always something about it in the news; after a couple days of it being the top story, it quickly shifted to a featured story at the end of the broadcast. There were points when the police believed that they were close to finding him, and there were other times where his father would make a statement, while still not making an appearance on the news. Jaewon knew his father probably had his own men conducting a research, and he feared that Japan wasn't far enough. He longed to put an ocean and a few continents between him and that horrendous man, but being that Japan was the one Asian country Jaehyun hadn't conquered yet, it was safer to stay._ _ _ _

__

____Jaewon was blankly staring at the television, uninterested in the drama which was showing before the news. Although, Chanwoo, who was sitting on the floor, had his eyes glued to the screen. Jaewon wondered when the news was going to start as the two protagonists of the show intensely stared into each other's eyes, having accidentally brushed their hands together while walking. Chanwoo gasped, clearly enveloped by the cheesy acting, and Jaewon almost chuckled to himself, finding it funny how a highly trained agent was so invested in such a show. The drama soon ended and the intro for the news started to play. Chanwoo was about to get up from his spot when the reported appeared on screen, saying the main story of the broadcast. It was described how a body which was identified as Jaewon was found in the Busan waters by fishermen. At this point the body was in a dire state of decomposition to the point that it was unrecognizable.____

______ _ _

____

______Jaewon held his breath as he intently watched the screen. Chanwoo sank back down on the floor, with a pensive look on his face as the screen changed to a shot of a body bag being put in an ambulance as a small crowd of people watched on. The camera then focused on a man in a suit, watching the body enter the ambulance with an emotionless expression. Jaewon sucked in a breath as he watched his father, who didn't seem bothered by the fact that his only child was just found dead. Typical. Jaehyun glanced at the camera, and for a second Jaewon felt incredibly unsettled, as if his father was staring directly at him through the screen. Then Jaehyun turned and walked away. The reporter appeared again, saying the information of the funeral, which will be held four days later._ _ _ _ _ _

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____

______Jaewon was not sure how to feel. The finding of the body meant that he was officially free for good. His father and the rest of the world now knew he was a dead man. He can now get a new identity, and live a better life. Although, the paranoia still clawed at his throat. There was no way everything happened so smoothly. If there was one thing Jaewon knew about his father, it was that things never went by easily. There was always some hidden agenda, always a secret which was used against Jaewon in the future._ _ _ _ _ _

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______His hands started to shake as he sat there, overthinking. Jaewon realized that Chanwoo was staring at him, but he couldn't speak. He felt as if his ability to form coherent sentences was taken from him. The visual of the body that was not his was implanted in his mind, and Jaewon constantly wondered if that was an innocent man who lost his life because of him. Jaewon then wondered if his father thought that body was really his, and if he did, was he relieved that his son was finally dead?_ _ _ _ _ _

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______"What's going on with him?" Jaewon faintly heard Junhow ask._ _ _ _ _ _

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______"They found the body," Chanwoo replied, "I think he's having a panic attack."_ _ _ _ _ _

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____

______He was right, Jaewon was having a panic attack. Although, no efforts were made to comfort him. Jaewon didn't want to stay in the living room, in full view of his kidnappers, while he had a panic attack. But he felt as if his feet were made of concrete, and he couldn't make the five steps to his room. Digging his hands in his hair, Jaewon took several deep breaths. He needed to calm down. But he couldn't. He continued to dig his hands into his skull, as if he intended to crush his head. He felt his face wet with tears, and he wasn't sure when he started crying. Taking several deep breaths again, he started to rock back and forth. Jaewon soon felt as if he needed to throw up, but before anything started to come up, he felt a sharp pain in his neck and suddenly his pulse slowed down and his muscles gave out, resulting in him falling forward onto the floor. Before he fell on conscious, Jaewon recounted the way his father glanced at the camera, as if making an unspoken promise._ _ _ _ _ _

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	9. Duck Ponds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back! I knoowwwww i said I would update regularly last time and tbh I don't have a good excuse why I haven't been doing it since. I'm just extremely lazy and I have a problem with finishing my chapters. But I am determined to finish this book! So please forgive me for the slow updates, I'll try to work on it lol.

Hanbin skipped out of his last exam, overwhelmed with joy that he was now at the end of the academic school year. He tried to push the tiny voice in his head which screamed at him that he was going to fail at the back of his head, not wanting to stress himself out any more. Despite it being completely accurate. Did Hanbin enthusiastically study and believed that he did his absolute best in his exam? No. But he did show up and wrote something on his paper, be it as nonsensical as it was. He was so excited return to his dorm room and spend sleepless nights on his laptop. Not because he had a paper due the next day, but because he was watching a drama, or simply wasting his time on YouTube. The world was filled with opportunities. 

Hanbin supposed that he should try to contact his friends, but truth be told he didn't want to. At least, not yet. He believed that he needed some time to himself so he could gather up his thoughts and return to the carefree, cheerful Hanbin that his friends knew him as, rather than the depressed and obsessive wreck that he has recently become. The suicide has been slowly driving him mad, with all kinds of questions flooding his head and the only one he believed who could answer them jumped off a bridge. There was also a part of Hanbin that didn't want to know the answers to his questions, because then that might lead him in the same direction as Akito Takahashi. He was afraid that he might find out something that he wasn't supposed to, or something that may be too much for him to handle mentally. Every time he got consumed by his own questions, that thought would run through his head right after. It was an endless cycle, none of which was bringing him any satisfaction. But he also couldn't stop. He wanted to know why. Why Akito jumped, why he said that no one was safe. It was all so fascinating to Hanbin in a way in which a light bulb was fascinating to a moth. He wanted to dig deeper and deeper until he got burned, and that terrified him. 

Hanbin shook his head, as if his thoughts would fall out of his ear. He needed to stop this, or he was going to drive himself insane. He has always been so painstakingly curious since he was younger, and often got scolded by his mother for asking too many questions, or ending up in a place in which he had no business. But he just wanted to know; Hanbin didn't like the unknowing, it was too uncertain, too eerie.

"You're a mess." A voice behind him declared as they held onto his backpack, halting his steps. 

"Huh?" Hanbin replied, in a stupor while the person zipped his bag shut. 

"You were walking with your bag wide open," Yuta gave Hanbin a judgmental look as he stood next to him. "There was a line of stationary following you, almost like that Hansel and Gretel story."

Hanbin glanced behind him and gave Yuta a grateful smile, "Thanks."

Folding his arms, Yuta regarded Hanbin with a weird face that almost looked like worry, "You've been so out of it lately. You're just moving around mindlessly like some sort of zombie." When Hanbin simply shrugged, Yuta let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed his arm, "Come on, let's get out of here." 

"Where are we going?" Hanbin asked, trying not to sound too annoyed. All he wanted to do was go back to his dorm. 

"We're going to leave campus for a bit. You need a change of scenery." He simply answered. 

 

Yuta carried Hanbin to a serene park on the outskirts of the city. It took them thirty minutes by shuttle to get there, during which Hanbin moodily huffed about being dragged off campus and Yuta ignored him. Hanbin had never been to that park before, and truth be told it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. It was smaller than the parks in the city and had a single duck pond at the center. As it was still early afternoon, there wasn't many people. 

"I usually come here to get away from the hassle of university and the city," Yuta said as they strolled into the park. "I get frustrated when all I do is go from class to the library to dance practice and then my house." Hanbin kept his gaze forward, as he let the scenery of the bright green grass put him in a trance. He couldn't remember the last time he was in a park. Or anywhere with much greenery, for that matter. "The fresh air does you wonders," Yuta continued, speaking rather slowly so that Hanbin would understand, "University is stressful and there are points where you start to think that it isn't even worth it. That's when you need to deject yourself and take a walk. And not a walk through the streets. I mean a real walk, where you see trees and butterflies and ducks."

They stopped by the pond and watched the ducks swim and splash in the water. Hanbin felt some of the tension in his shoulders lift and he glanced at Yuta. He was always so kind to Hanbin in the most casual ways, it almost didn't feel like he was doing a good deed. When Yuta noticed that Hanbin was struggling with his Japanese, he merely told him to meet up after classes at the cafe so they could work on vocabulary. Hanbin had been so grateful and when he tried to repay Yuta for his kindness, he simply shrugged and told Hanbin that it was nothing to make a fuss over. Even now, he realized that Hanbin was going through a tough time, so he helped him once again, without even asking what the problem was. 

"Thanks," Hanbin said without watching Yuta. He kept it simple as he knew that Yuta doesn't like sappiness. 

"I can tell when someone needs help. I brought my other friend here not too long ago. Her big brother was the guy that jumped off the bridge near campus." Yuta responded coolly. 

Hanbin knit his eyebrows together. "What?"

"Yeah," Yuta clicked his tongue as he kicked some pebbles into the pond. "She's going through a really rough time. Everyone is calling her brother crazy, but she swears he wasn't. She says he wasn't suicidal either. He was actually planning a trip to North America. The tickets were bought and everything."

How Yuta could be so casual about what he just said is beyond Hanbin. "So you mean his family is saying that nothing was wrong with him?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did he jump off the bridge?" 

Yuta shrugged, although he stopped kicking the pebbles. "I have no idea. It's a really fucked up situation." 

 

_Drinks tonight? ___

__Hanbin ignored the text he got from Donghyuk. Usually he would jump at the opportunity to get drinks with his friends, but he had a lot on his mind this night. After his conversation with Yuta at the park, Hanbin became even more baffled by the suicide of Akito Takahashi. None of it made sense. Not a bit. He still vividly remembers the scene at the bridge. The urgency in Akito's voice was something inconsolable and haunting. Like he had no other choice but to jump. Although, from what Yuta has told him it seemed like Akito wasn't living the awful life that the media painted it out to be. So why did he jump?_ _

__The overwhelming urge to find Akito's sister and ask her himself suddenly washed over Hanbin, but he decided against it as it would be quite creepy to do that and he figured she already had a lot on her plate. But it just didn't add up. And why hasn't the police addressed this? Hanbin is a psychology major for heaven's sake! A trained detective should have no trouble seeing that something is wrong here._ _

__The pain of curiosity was going to kill Hanbin one day, he swears. Even though he was just one face in the crowd of people who was there that night; even though he did not know that man and this is not his problem in any way, Hanbin still had to get to the bottom of this. He couldn't just stay quiet while people suffered over this. Every rational brain cell screamed at Hanbin to rethink his plan and go to drinks with his friends and pretend like nothing ever happened. But Hanbin knew that all logic had left his head. He was going to find out why Akito Takahashi killed himself, and he was going to start at the beginning of it all. The bridge._ _


	10. A Trip to the Grocery Store

It was three days after the announcement of his death when Junhoe decided that Jaewon could leave the apartment. Granted that it was only a trip to the grocery store and Chanwoo had to accompany him. Jaewon was grateful, nonetheless. He felt as if he was slowly losing his mind in there, with nothing but the unsympathetic gazes of his roommates boring into him. He was given a new identity by the agents, in fact, they all had new identities. For the time being, Jaewon had a Japanese ID card, Passport and birth certificate which all had the name Asahi Sakai. The pictures on both his ID and Passport were younger pictures of him, with trimmed hair, a clean shaven face and dull eyes. These days his hair had grown out past his ears and Jaewon was sporting some stubble, but the dull eyes were still there.

Jaewon was ready to leave the house wearing his black hoodie, but Junhoe stopped him. "You are not going out like that," He scolded. "It's almost summer, you shouldn't wear a hoodie."

Jaewon gave him a blank look. For a moment it sounded like Junhoe cared about his well being. "So?" 

"So, you may draw attention to yourself. You need to try to blend in with everyone else. No one is going to be wearing hoodies." Junhoe disappeared into his shared room with Chanwoo, coming back with a pastel pink jersey. "Wear this." He demanded. 

"You have got to be kidding." Jaewon only wears two colours, which were white and black. And he rarely wore white. It was almost an insult for someone to suggest he puts on a pastel pink shirt. 

Junhoe gave him a dangerous look. "Wear the fucking shirt." 

"Watch your tone, I'm older than you." Jaewon answered, hotly. 

"So now you have an attitude?" 

"You guys are so petty." Chanwoo entered the room. He had on a white shirt with ripped jeans which made him look quite youthful. "Just wear the shirt, we're only going to be out for fifteen minutes and I doubt anyone is going to give you a second glance." 

Jaewon stared at Chanwoo, then looked at the shirt. He especially didn't want to wear the shirt now, because that meant Junhoe would win their little argument, and Jaewon had a lot of pride. However, he gathered that Junhoe was right. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention to himself, and wearing a black hoodie during summer would make him look kind of suspicious. Sighing and grabbing the shirt from Junhoe, Jaewon changed shirts in front of the two agents. Without even bothering to look in the mirror, or at Junhoe, he walked to the front door and opened it, only waiting for Chanwoo to quietly follow him. 

As they walked out of the shabby apartment complex, Jaewon had to squint his eyes at how bright everything was outside. They hardly opened any windows at the apartment and barely put on the lights, solely relying on the television to illuminate the living room. The streets buzzed with activity, mainly young adults walking in groups to the university that was down the street. Jaewon's gaze lingered on the tall building, wondering what it would have been like if he was a student with no other worries besides passing his classes. 

"Come on," Chanwoo said, pulling Jaewon in the opposite direction. They walked in a comfortable silence. While his relationship with Junhoe was tense and unsteady, Jaewon felt a bit more pleasant toward Chanwoo. He wouldn't say that he necessarily liked him, as the young boy had something incredibly off-putting about him, but Jaewon preferred to be around him rather than his hostile friend. 

The grocery store was right around the corner, not a far walk at all. As they entered, Jaewon caught a glimpse of himself in the glass doors and he slightly cringed. He looked incredibly pale and skinny with the shirt hanging loosely onto his body and his pants were a size too big, as well. The only thing that he really had going for him was his hair, which was always his best quality, Jaewon believed. When it got longer it was quite silky and flopped in a way that looked almost fashionable. It gave the illusion that he may have put some effort into his hair, when in reality Jaewon has barely brushed it in over a week. 

They spent a short space of time in the store, picking up necessities that Junhoe always failed to get when he did the shopping. Chanwoo even got some snacks for them to eat when they got bored of ramen and cereal. In the checkout line, they were in front of some teenage girls who giggled when Chanwoo glanced back at them and Jaewon almost smiled as he watched Chanwoo shift awkwardly in response.

As they left, the sight of the Ebisu Bridge caught Jaewon's eye and he remembered the incident of that man who jumped off of it not too long ago. Chanwoo noticed Jaewon's delayed steps and also looked in the direction of the bridge. "What? Do you want to walk there?" He asked. 

"Can we? I want to pay my respects to someone." 

With a hum, Chanwoo responded, "Okay but make it quick. Junhoe won't like it if we're gone too long. They walked to the bridge and Chanwoo took a seat at one of the benches, with the groceries next to him. Jaewon walked to the edge, where the railings were, looking over. Despite it being in the early evening with the sun about to set, it was still incredibly warm and Jaewon was silently thankful that he didn't wear his hoodie. Staring at the river under the bridge, he remembered watching the video of the man jumping, Akito, he thinks his name was. Covering up that death for his father was mentally damaging. Although, Akito did make Japan a little safer from the grip of Jung Jaehyun. 

"I'm so sorry," Jaewon said out loud, "You were a brave man, Akito."

"Did you just speak Korean?" An excited voice said next to him in Korean. Jaewon jumped, not previously seeing the man next to him. Well, maybe not a man, but a young boy. He was skinny and also had on baggy clothes, like Jaewon. He had a bag on his back and his hair was a shade of light brown. His eyes shone with excitement and curiosity. Jaewon became tired just looking at him. 

"What did you say? I cannot understand you." Jaewon feigned ignorance, while looking at the boy with his best confused expression. 

"I definitely heard you speak in Korean!" The boy pushed. "I'm also Korean! My name is Hanbin and--"

"Is everything alright here?" Chanwoo asked in Japanese as he walked up to them with the groceries in his hands and eyeing the boy, Hanbin, suspiciously. 

"He keeps speaking in Korean and I don't understand." Jaewon gave Chanwoo an intense look, which he responded to in a calm fashion. 

"Let's go. Maybe he's crazy." Chanwoo nodded his head in the opposite direction and as they walked away, the boy followed them.

"I am not crazy! I heard you speaking in Korean!" He said in Japanese. However, Jaewon and Chanwoo just kept walking, completely ignoring him. "Did you know Akito Takahashi? I heard you say his name." Hanbin said in Korean. Both Jaewon and Chanwoo paused, exchanging confused looks before turning to the boy. Seeing that he got their attention, Hanbin continued to speak. "I'm looking into his case and I would really like to speak to his family and friends. Please, if you know anything, can you help me out?"

Chanwoo narrowed his eyes, giving Hanbin an incredibly intimidating stare. "I know you're not a police officer. You better stay out of business that isn't yours, little boy." He said in Korean. 

For a second Hanbin looked daunted, taking a step back, then he regained his confidence. "I knew you were Korean." He said with a little smirk. "And who are you calling a little boy? You look younger than me!"

Chanwoo was shoving the groceries in Jaewon's hands, definitely about to do something that wasn't a good idea. Refusing to take the groceries, Jaewon put them on the ground and grabbed Chanwoo's arm. "Let's not get carried away," He whispered to him before turning to Hanbin. "Listen we aren't looking for trouble or anything. Just mind your business and we'll mind ours. Understand?" He and Hanbin held gazes for a second and Jaewon was convinced that this boy had no idea what he was trying to get into. He almost wanted to warn him, but that might make him more curious. 

Eventually, Hanbin nodded and took another step back. Chanwoo moved to pick up the groceries and Jaewon let him. Sparing the boy one more glance, Jaewon let Chanwoo walk away first, then he followed. He didn't turn back to see if the boy was watching them or if he had gone his own way. But for the sake of everyone's well being, he hoped that Hanbin understood that he was working on the wrong case.


	11. They Who Shall Not Be Named

Okay, so Hanbin was a bit crazy. After basically being told to fuck off by what looked like an edgy teenager and his less threatening older brother, he was more than a bit annoyed. He originally went to the bridge so that he could reminisce on the happenings of that night and see if there was any details he missed. Although, once he heard the guy in the pink shirt speaking in Korean, he was rather surprised. Even more when he mentioned Akito Takahashi's name. It was like an opportunity had fallen into his lap, but much to his disappointment, they were unwilling to co-operate. 

As he watched them retreat, Hanbin suddenly felt extremely irritated. There was obviously more to this case and no one was doing anything to reveal the truth. Akito's family deserved to know the truth, and Hanbin also wanted to move on from this. Making sure there was an appropriate amount of people between them, Hanbin began to follow the two men. He realized that they were going in the direction of his university, and he briefly wondered if they were students Although, his question was soon answered when they went into a cheap motel. 

Hanbin approached the entrance, and considered his options. He could walk in and find which room they were staying at and break in, or he could go back to campus and not act like a fucking creep. As much as he wanted answers, Hanbin refused to stoop to the level of breaking and entering. Sighing deeply, he turned to walk away, but someone grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him into the side street next to the motel and harshly pushed him up against the rough wall. 

"Who are you working with?" The teenager from before whispered dangerously as he tightly held onto Hanbin's shirt. 

"What? I'm not working with anyone!" Hanbin felt his heart race as he glanced up and down. Is no one going to help him?

"Don't lie to me!" The boy said as he held his knee between Hanbin's legs.

Hanbin felt all of the colour drain from his face as he pieced together what the boy was about to do next. "I'm not lying! I saw Akito commit suicide and I know his sister!" That was a lie, but Hanbin was at a lack for words. "Please, I don't mean any trouble!"

"Chanwoo! Get off him!" The boy, Chanwoo, was pulled off of Hanbin by the man in the pink shirt. 

"He was following us!" Chanwoo spat out, "He's up to something!" 

The man glanced from Chanwoo to Hanbin with a thoughtful look on his face. "Go inside, I'll handle this."

Chanwoo gave him a dubious look, "What are you going to do?"

"Just go inside. I'll be up in a bit."

Chanwoo was hesitant, but after shooting Hanbin a death glare, he walked out of the ally. 

"That's not how you treat your elders!" Hanbin shouted after him as he rubbed his neck from being pushed into the wall. 

The man gave Hanbin an almost pleading look, but if Chanwoo heard him, he didn't indicate it. What followed was a pregnant silence between the two men as Hanbin looked for scrapes and sore spots on his body and the man stood there, observing him. 

"How old are you," He asked, breaking the silence. 

"I'm twenty-two," Hanbin replied, carefully, "Who are you?"

"That's none of your business," The man immediately answered, "Just like Akito Takahashi's death. But you obviously have a problem with minding your own business, so I have a proposal for you." Hanbin quirked his eyebrow. This man spoke smoothly as if he was he was conducting a business transaction. Crossing his arms, Hanbin motioned for him to continue. "I will answer you one question about Takahashi's death, but in return you must leave us alone."

"Just one question?"

"Only one. Believe me when I say that you have no idea what you're getting yourself into," The man regarded Hanbin with one swift eye motion and slightly tipped his head to the left, as if he were unimpressed. Feeling slightly offended, Hanbin also gave him a once-over. Under the pink shirt, he was quite a skinny person, as if he hasn't eating for weeks. Hanbin was sure he could easily win a fight with this man, but he was still slightly intimidated by him. He also had dark circles under his eyes, and his mouth seemed to be set in a permanent frown. Upon studying his face closer, Hanbin supposed this man could be good looking, if he took care of himself properly. Overall, Hanbin was equally underwhelmed. 

"And how do I know that you won't be lying to me?"

The man simply shrugged, with a slight smirk. "You won't. But seeing as you're desperate enough to follow us, you'll take what you can get."

Slight irritation crept up Hanbin's throat, "I was not desperate enough to follow you! My university is right down the road." The man's expression didn't change and Hanbin huffed, "Fine. What did Akito mean when he said that no one is safe?"

The ghost of a smile he had dropped and his eyebrows knit together, "Ask another question."

"No! You know the answer to this question."

"Maybe. But there's no way I'm telling you."

Hanbin wanted to argue more, but the closed off expression on the man's face showed that there was nothing he could do to get the answer. "Okay. Akito obviously was not mentally ill, so why did the police say that he was?"

He hummed thoughtfully and pushed his hands into his jeans pockets, "Takahashi was involved with some bad men. While I can't say why he really killed himself, I could tell you that there are some dangerous things in this world which the normal people in society have no business meddling with," He paused to give Hanbin a pointed look, "Takahashi may have been one of these people, and lets say that he found out something he wasn't supposed to know. Maybe jumping off that bridge was a way of not only saving himself, but other people."

Another long silence settled between the men as Hanbin thought about what he was just told. "What the fuck does that mean?" He finally said. 

The man gave Hanbin a helpless shrug, "I answered your question. It's up to you to make sense of it." He turned to leave, but paused and looked back, "And stay away from us, or next time I won't stop Chanwoo from making sure you never reproduce."

And with that, he walked out of the side street, leaving Hanbin in a stupor. He gained absolutely no knowledge from that transaction, all he did was state things Hanbin already knew. Kicking an empty soda can in rage, Hanbin did his best not to scream profanities at the top of his voice. It was very apparent that they knew more than they were letting on, and for a fleeting moment, he thought that maybe it wasn't worth the trouble. Sighing and running a hand through his hair, Hanbin decided that was enough sleuthing for one day and he walked out of the side street. 

 

After his failed attempt at being a detective, Hanbin found himself sitting in Donghyuk's dorm room, drowning his failures in vodka. He sat on the floor, between Bobby and Donghyuk, who both sat at the far ends of the room. The atmosphere between the three friends was tense, tonight. A stark contrast from how they were a month ago. Hanbin wasn't sure what it was, exactly. Maybe it was because he had been avoiding them, maybe because they all had anxieties about exams, or maybe something happened that he didn't know about. Hanbin weighed on the last option as he glanced from Bobby to Donghyuk and back again. They seemed to be avoiding looking at each other, with Donghyuk fiddling with his fingers and Bobby staring out the window. 

Feeling incredibly awkward, Hanbin was about to break the silence when Bobby's phone dinged with a new message. He read it and let out what sounded like a sigh of relief. "There's a party off campus, do you guys want to go?"

With no time, Donghyuk answered, "Yes!" Getting up and quickly changing his shirt. Bobby averted his gaze, with his ears slightly turning pink and Hanbin gave him a confused look. 

"Are you coming, hyung?" Donghyuk asked and Hanbin nodded as he stood up. He shook his head in disappointment as he was able to successfully get up, meaning that he wasn't drunk enough yet. 

They walked to the party in the same tense silence. Hanbin wanted them to joke and laugh loudly into the night, but it simply wasn't happening that day, so he hoped that the party would change the mood for the better. It was at a house which wasn't too far off campus, and Hanbin could see that most of the people there were students. Bobby saw Sana and he went to greet her, upon seeing Bobby quickly break away from them, Donghyuk stomped away in the opposite direction. Hanbin watched him, completely baffled and making a mental note to question one of them as to what the hell was going on. 

Despite his friend's weird behaviour, Hanbin was still disappointed that they left him alone. He wasn't typically the most social person, and had very few people he spoke to outside of his friend group. He was never the person who needed a large friend group, and was always more than satisfied with Bobby and Donghyuk, and Yuta, who occasionally spent time with him. However, he was quite regretting not making more friends as he stood awkwardly in the middle of the party. Thus, he decided to do what any rational person would, and get a drink. 

Walking to the kitchen, Hanbin grabbed two bottles of Soju, so that he won't have to venture there to get another. The bad pop music which was at a deafening volume started to give him a headache, so Hanbin decided to find the quietest spot in the house and get drunk there, by himself. Pushing through the crowd, he saw that there was a backyard with only a few number of people. As he stepped out, the cool night breeze hit his face and the music didn't seem so loud anymore. There was a large pool and a couple of people swimming in there, besides that others seemed to be simply chatting or star gazing. Hanbin decided to grab a lawn chair and pull it far away from everyone else, by the concrete wall separating the yard from the Attorney's Office next door. 

"Perfect," Hanbin sighed as he sat and cracked open his first bottle. 

"What's perfect? Drinking by yourself in a party?" A voice asked next to him. A guy dragged his chair next to Hanbin and sat comfortably. Hanbin studied him closely, he wasn't a student, he didn't think. He looked quite young, with his chestnut hair and chubby cheeks, there was even a mole by his eye. Although, there was a mischievous glint in his eyes that had Hanbin thinking that he should be careful about what he says around this man. 

"Exactly," He shrugged. 

Chuckling, the guy reached over and took the other bottle of Soju from Hanbin and drank from it. He quirked his eyebrow, as if challenging Hanbin to do something about it. When Hanbin didn't react, he smiled widely. "Are you just going to let a strange man take your drink?"

Hanbin was a bit taken aback by his teasing smile, he was quite good looking. Despite that thought, Hanbin squinted his eyes, refusing to play along. "Yes, I am."

He laughed out loud, "Fine, then." They sat in silence after that, however, it wasn't unsettling like the one Hanbin endured between him and his friends before. It was a mutual understanding as they both drank their drinks in their lawn chairs, with a party going on around them. 

Upon finishing his bottle, Hanbin felt drunk enough so that the bad pop music now sounded pleasant to him, and he bopped his head along with the beat. The guy next to him watched Hanbin for a while, before standing up and holding out a hand for him to take. Hanbin took it and he was pulled out of his seat. It was then he realized how short this guy was and he giggled. 

"What's so funny?" He looked up at Hanbin with questioning eyes and Hanbin had to suppress the urge to pinch his cheeks. 

"You're so short."

He glared back at Hanbin, but there was no heat in it and he eventually laughed, "Well, would you care to dance with a short man?"Hanbin almost gushed at this, but managed to nod his head. Still holding Hanbin's hand, the shorter man led him back inside where everyone was dancing. It was then that Hanbin suddenly remembered that he couldn't dance, but the other man didn't seem to remotely care as he suddenly snaked his arms around Hanbin and pulled them closer so that both their chests were almost touching. 

Even though his drunk self was less shy than his sober self, Hanbin still flushed at being so close to him. While he acknowledged his attraction towards other men, he rarely acted on it. He never even went on a date before. Noticing Hanbin's awkwardness, the other man drifted his hands down to Hanbin's hips and pushed himself up on his toes to whisper in his ears, "Don't be so tense, just loosen up," And he gently swayed Hanbin's hips to match his own movements. 

It was two songs later when Hanbin eventually started to feel more confident in his dancing abilities, and they were both moving together as they mimicked each other's movements. Somehow, the space between them got smaller with each minute that passed and before Hanbin knew it, one of the man's hands were at the back of his neck and the other buried in his hair. Hanbin's own hands were stationed at the small of his partner's back. As he danced with the smaller man, he felt more daring and confident, and pulled him closer so that there was no space between that. The man smiled, liking the new side of Hanbin that was surfacing. 

Although, it was short lived as someone tapped on the man's shoulder and he looked back. Hanbin also looked at who interrupted them and was surprised to see that boy, Chanwoo, staring back at the man in his arms with an unreadable expression. Hanbin saw the other man give Chanwoo a shocked look before he turned back to him with a small smile and whispered in his ear, "I have to go, but this was fun."

Hanbin frowned, not wanting things to end there. "I don't even know your name."

The man gave him a wicked smile as he moved Hanbin's arms from around his waist. "And you never will." With that, he turned and grabbed Chanwoo and they both left. Hanbin remained in the spot he was standing, wondering why no one tells people their names anymore, and hoping that he didn't just grind with Chanwoo's boyfriend.


	12. False Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I know it's been ages since I've last updated. Truth be told, I had lost motivation to write for a while and was considering to stop doing this story. But I've been getting such amazing feedback that I couldn't do that to you guys! So thank you so much for those of you who have left comments and kudos, you all really give me the motivation to write! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

As Jaewon walked back into the lobby of the rundown apartment complex, Chanwoo was waiting for him, clearly annoyed. "What did you say to him?"

Jaewon bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about the young man they had just encountered. He was very persistent, it was kind of annoying. "I didn't tell him anything important. It will keep him out of trouble."

"And what about keeping ourselves out of trouble? He knows we're Korean, he knows where we live, he know's we're related to Akito Takahashi. He even knows my name!" Chanwoo's voice was low, but venomous. He looked at Jaewon with such intensity that he felt that now familiar unnerving feeling that accompanied spending time with Chanwoo.

"He's a twenty-two year old university student," Jaewon said calmly as he folded his arms. "I don't think he's a threat."

"So we're just to assume that he's harmless based on how he looks? What about me? I look like a regular university student, as well. And how dangerous am I?"

That left Jaewon at a lost for words. Although, he thought back to seeing the panic in the stranger's eyes when Chanwoo had pinned him to the wall, and the naive questions he had asked Jaewon. "I really don't think he's dangerous," Jaewon concluded. "But if you want to be completely sure, he goes to university down the street."

Chanwoo slightly nodded his head as he picked up the groceries from the floor, "I'll definitely look into him." 

Jaewon said nothing as he took some of the bags from Chanwoo and they ascended up the staircase to the sixth floor. Jaewon fleetingly thought about who else could possibly live in that building, as it was eerily quiet. There were no signs of life. No distant sounds of televisions, or people laughing, or even conversing. The only noises were that of cars and groups of university students outside. 

They finally get to their apartment, and Jaewon noted how out of breath he was, compared to Chanwoo, who was completely fine. Before Chanwoo had the time to knock on the door, it swung open to reveal Junhoe. He stared daggers into both of them. "What the hell were you two doing that took forty-nine minutes?" 

"We got into a little altercation with a kid," Chanwoo said dismissively as he pushed past Junhoe. 

"You spoke to someone?" Junhoe shouted after Chanwoo and Jaewon also walked inside, closing the door behind him. If he thought the building was too quiet before, Junhoe surely fixed that issue. 

"Yeah, but Jaewon hyung dealed with it," Chanwoo said as he began to unpack the groceries. 

"You have got to be kidding me," Junhoe said, exasperatedly as looked back at Jaewon. "Did you kill him?"

Jaewon startled at that question. "What? No!" 

"Then it's not dealt with."

"Relax, hyung," Chanwoo chimed in as he put the three boxes of cereal on the fridge. "I'm going to look more into it later. But it's nothing to fuss over."

Junhoe shook his head and mumbled something to himself, but sat on the couch, not pressing the topic further. Jaewon moved into the kitchen, helping Chanwoo with the groceries, then he remembered something important from their earlier conversation. "Wait, how are you related to Akito Takahashi?"

Chanwoo stopped what he was doing and Junhoe turned and gave Chanwoo a stern look before asking, "How do you know that name?" 

"Remember, Takahashi was working for his father's company," Chanwoo said to Junhoe. 

"Oh," Junhoe said, surprisingly dropping the topic as he turned back to the television. "Tell him, then."

Chanwoo looked back at Jaewon, "We were supposed to protect him from your father--well, we did. But then Takahashi killed himself."

"He paid you guys to protect him?"

"Well, in theroy, I suppose. We never got any money from him in the end, but we did get money from our company."

"You two work for a company?"

"Company is a loose term," Chanwoo grabbed a pack of Cheetos and opened it. "We work under a protection agency that gives us the files of people who we need to protect, then we get paid in total once the job is complete." 

Jaewon had many more questions, but Chanwoo gave him a look that seemed to signal the end of that particular conversation. "Do you know what Takahashi did? All my father really said was that he was a danger to the company and told me to cover up his suicide."

Chanwoo pursed his lips, as if he were thinking. "Well I think he was supposed to be a manager at one of the stores that was opening in Osaka, but then he found out that your dad was spying on people through the technology he was selling. That's when he got into a really dangerous position," Chanwoo paused to lick the Cheeto dust off his fingers, "We were assigned to protect him. We spent maybe half a month with him, most of which he locked himself in his room and refused to leave the house. He barely spoke to us, too. Then one day he just left and the next thing we knew, he jumped off the bridge."

"So you don't know why he killed himself, exactly?" Jaewon asked, watching Chanwoo intently. 

Chanwoo shrugged as he continued to devour the bag of Cheetos, "Honestly, the guy was a little crazy. So who really knows what he was thinking?"

Jaewon heavily suspected that Chanwoo wasn't giving him the full story. Although, he didn't bother himself to further press Chanwoo for more information. Jaewon believed that if he tried hard enough, he knew he could figure out what really happened to Akito Takahashi. He knew everything about Jung Technologies, and every skeleton his father had in his closet. Both literally and figuratively. But was he was unsure of whether he cared enough to do what it took to get that information. He once again found himself at the same crossroad he had been stuck at since he faked his death. Does he want to lay low for the rest of his life and move on? Or does he want to take his father down? His instincts told him that running away would be the safer option. But he knew that he was the only one who would be capable of stopping his father. And finding out what happened to Akito Takahashi would be the first step. 

 

Despite making such a life-changing decision, Jaewon found himself lying idly on the old, smelly couch, watching a bad drama with Chanwoo. At some point, he had stopped ironically enjoying the show and actually got sucked into the overly exaggerated acting and sub-par plot. They were in the middle of a particularly eventful episode when Junhoe walked through the front door from his daily walk. "I heard some university students talking about a party that's going on later tonight," He said as he eyed the two men lazing on the floor. 

"Yeah," Chanwoo muttered, his gaze still glued to the screen. 

"Which means it's a perfect opportunity to find that guy you all had a run in with," When all Chanwoo did was hum in return, Junhoe unplugged the television and the both men simultaneously groaned in protest. "I don't think you both heard me so I'll say it again. We're going to the party tonight so you two can fix the mess you made."

Chanwoo ruffled his hair, "Hyung, I don't really think it's necessary. That guy didn't look cool enough to go to parties." 

Jaewon giggled in agreement, although Junhoe wasn't as amused as he gave them both a blank look. "We're going to this party."

 

Not too soon later Jaewon found himself at a slight obstacle. He was supposed to be getting dressed for the party, although he realized two things. 1) He didn't have any clothes appropriate for a college party, and 2) It's been five years since he's been a college student, and even then he was home schooled. So ultimately, he knows nothing about dressing for parties. He was about to settle for black jeans and a black shirt with a questionable stain on it when his door cracked open and someone threw in some items of clothing before promptly shutting the door again . Jaewon glanced at the shut door before picking up what looked like black track pants and and a simple grey top. Jaewon supposed that was better than his previous options and quickly put the clothes on. 

He left his room to join Chanwoo, who was standing in front of the door with a bored look on his face. When he saw Jaewon he gave him a once over and quirked his eyebrow, "You took my clothes?"

"No. Did you not open my door and throw them in?"

Chanwoo looked like he was about to say something else, but Junhoe exited the bathroom. His hair was stylishly done and an outfit which looked trendy, yet comfortable. He looked at both Chanwoo and Jaewon, then silently nodded. Chanwoo opened the door and they headed out. 

The streets weren't as busy in the night as they sounded in the day. There were a couple of cars, and the occasional pedestrian, but besides that the three men walked in silence. Jaewon observed his surroundings as they strolled. There was a city not too far behind them, and the lights seemed to twinkle from the distance. For a second, Jaewon allowed himself to believe that he was a student, who was walking to a party with his best friends. For just a second, he pretended that he hadn't faked his own death, or was feeling paranoid at his father possibly finding him. He just wanted to grant himself one moment of contentment within a lie. 

When they arrived to the party, Jaewon watched the scene with fascination. He had been to parties before, but boring, rich people parties where they sip champagne delicately and discuss business ventures. Here, within twenty seconds of arriving, he had already witnessed a rather buff looking guy strip down naked and do a cannon ball into the pool outside. 

"Stop that," Junhoe hissed in his ear. 

Jaewon spared him a side glance, "Stop what?"

"Looking like a freak that's never been around more than 5 people before," With that, Junhoe shoved a semi-cold beer in his hand and said, "Go find your guy," Before shoving Jaewon into the dancing crowd. 

His immediate reaction was to retreat to the sidelines, as the first thing that Jaewon noticed was the scent of sweaty bodies grinding against each other, and he moved to walk away. Although, his plan of escape was thwarted when a rather short girl grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards her. Jaewon's entire body went stiff as this girl then proceeded to flush their bodies together in what seemed to be a sensual rhythm to Psy's 'New Face'. 

Jaewon felt incredibly uncomfortable and was looking for a way to creep away, but he locked eyes with Junhoe, who was giving him a stern look that seemed to say _'act like a human being, you idiot!'._ Jaewon glared back at him, but obliged as he awkwardly gripped the girl's waist and tried to sway along with her.

His plan was to ditch her after one song, but she was quite adamant on dancing with him, and much to Jaewon's dismay, they danced for almost 5 songs. Eventually, Jaewon stopped caring about being polite and simply walked away during the fifth song. His beer, which he had been tightly gripping the entire time, was now completely warm. Jaewon didn't even try to drink it, as he rested it on the table with refreshments. Well, if you can call a bowl of skittles 'refreshments'. Jaewon crossed his arms and looked around the room, trying to identify Hanbin, but instead finding Junhoe making out with the same girl he had been dancing with not too long ago. Jaewon cocked an eyebrow at that. _So much for the business first attitude._

Chanwoo found his way next to Jaewon, "Any luck?" He shouted over the music. 

Jaewon silently shook his head as glanced around the room once more. Chanwoo did the same, and when he saw Junhoe and the girl he made a disgusted face. Jaewon chuckled at Chanwoo's expression as he watched Junhoe. In that moment, he seemed like a normal twenty-one year old man, and Jaewon found himself slipping into his made up reality once more. That was until he saw someone who looked like Hanbin dancing with a smaller man behind Junhoe and the girl. He turned to tell Chanwoo, but the younger boy was already moving to the couple. On his way, he violently yanked Junhoe away from the girl, to which Junhoe scowled back at him, but Chanwoo didn't notice. His eyes were glued to Hanbin, and Jaewon started to worry about what the boy was about to do to Hanbin. Although, Chanwoo disregarded Hanbin and instead tapped on the smaller man's shoulder. 

When the man turned to face Chanwoo, Jaewon recognized him as the third kidnapper, Jinhwan, he believed his name to be. Jinhwan gave Chanwoo an unsurprising look, as if he were expecting Chanwoo to catch him dancing with Hanbin. Junhoe stared dumbfounded behind Chanwoo. Then, Jinhwan turned to whisper something to Hanbin before he grabbed Chanwoo and walked out of the crowd. 

Jaewon was at another tough spot, as he wasn't sure if he was supposed to confront Hanbin, or follow his group. He stayed in his spot, looking from Hanbin, to the direction that the men went many times before he decided that the situation with Hanbin could wait another day and he ran in the direction of his housemates.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
